Coroll becomes NSK’s first Certified AIP Partner in Czech Republic

NSK has named its latest Certified AIP Partner, Coroll s.r.o., which becomes the first authorised distributor in the Czech Republic to receive the accolade. At an award ceremony on 13 May, the certificate was presented to the company’s management team, along with NSK’s ‘Man towards future’ award, which signifies impressive levels of progress. Coroll was nominated to become a Certified AIP Partner by NSK Poland.

With a focus on quality, Coroll is one of the largest distributors of bearings, ball screws and linear motion technologies in the Czech Republic. Established in 1995, the company has extensive technical capabilities, working with customers both to design new products and optimise the functionality of existing equipment. The goal is always to create the most technically optimal and cost-effective solution for customers.

Based on this ethos, it was clear that Coroll had the potential to take the next step in its development and become one of NSK’s growing network of AIP (Added Value Programme) Certified Partners. Only those distribution partners able to successfully complete a 10-stage plan can become Certified AIP Partners, a process that includes intensive training and in-field assessments.

For Coroll, the programme involved a number of key stages, including: situation analysis (evaluating and understanding the customer problem); designing solutions (including costings, return on investment analysis and other related information); implementation of the solution; calculating the actual savings; and extending the solution to other operations.

Expert NSK personnel delivered extensive training that focused not only on NSK products, tools and services, but a host of other pertinent industry issues such as effective maintenance and inspection, counterfeit bearing awareness, and future developments. In the first instance, both theoretical and practical training was delivered at the candidate’s premises, before in-the-field training at customer sites. The process took more than a year to complete.

It was decided to trial Coroll’s newly acquired knowledge and skills at two customers in the steel industry: a cold mill producing sheet, and a rolling mill manufacturing steel tube. At the cold mill, an AIP project involving a reverse rolling quarto-stand produced annual costs savings of €56,921, while a project centred on punching equipment at the rolling mill generated savings of €32,820. These figures are indicative of the potential savings available to companies taking advantage of NSK’s proven AIP initiative. In addition, under supervision from NSK, the authorised distributor delivered customer training in correct bearing inspection, handling and maintenance.

Based in Hronov, Coroll becomes the fifth Certified AIP Partner in the CEE (Central and Eastern Europe) region, and will be subject to an ongoing annual review. The certification builds on the company’s long-standing reputation for technical expertise across precision sectors that include machine tools, steelmaking, transmissions, paper and rail, to list only some.

“NSK is driving towards full technical and customised services through the transition of authorised distributors to a specialist network of Certified AIP Partners able to deliver total solutions,” says Tim Cains, European AIP Services Manager.

By using the ‘Distributor Finder’ facility on the NSK Europe website, users can view a list of all Certified AIP Partners in their respective country.

Press picture

1)  Left to right at the handover of the AIP Partner certificate: Marek Fulka, Commercial Director, Coroll s.r.o; Martin Houstek, Managing Director, Owner, Coroll s.r.o; Marek Ziolkowski (NSK), Territory Manager CEE, European Industrial Business Unit (EIBU); and Karel Svab (NSK), Sales Engineer Czech Republic, EIBU